It fits right in with christian principles to forgive the people who committed this crime against them, and I applaud the group for being able to do this.

However, part of christian love is guiding wrongdoers into following the right path in the future - not much guidence if they let the insurgents off, on the other hand there wouldn't be much chance of them becoming decent citizens if the insurgents were executed

He thinks that he's a man of principle by showing the other cheek. The rest of humanity, well the majority of arrse, thinks that he's a posturing fool because his stance undermines the need for the rule of law, which in turn demands that the protagonists be punished for their actions.

FOOL. Open invite to every mad group in Iraq or Afghanistan etc to kidnap Wedterners. They obviously werent beaten, tortured, raped or abused in any way shape or form. The American hostage was killed, will his family be as forgiving towards his captors? This is religious tolerance at the extreme, Will the kidnappers really give a flying f**k if this old man forgives them?Surely the kidnappers will face trial even if the idiot is so forgiving? Winds me up no end.

FOOL. Open invite to every mad group in Iraq or Afghanistan etc to kidnap Wedterners. They obviously werent beaten, tortured, raped or abused in any way shape or form. The American hostage was killed, will his family be as forgiving towards his captors? This is religious tolerance at the extreme, Will the kidnappers really give a flying f**k if this old man forgives them?Surely the kidnappers will face trial even if the idiot is so forgiving? Winds me up no end.

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Slaphead

The foolishnes is not in the forgiveness, it is in their indecisiveness as to giving evidence. Remember the mother of Anthony Walker forgave his killers whilst still advocating that they went to trial.

I only hope I would have the same strength of character as Mrs Walker if I were in similar circumstances

Whilst I agree with the comments being made here, I have to admire Kember for what he is doing. He is making a serious, and valid point about the difference between his belief and the barbarity of those that kidnapped him. It is that difference that sets us apart.
I would like to think that there are some Islamic people that would look at this example and learn from it. Somehow I doubt it though.

Tempted to agree with slaphead69, but it might be too early to make a judgment. I reckon Kember is still traumatised â and who wouldnât be?

Look at what he said: âNorman Kember told BBC television the guards were as much victims of the cycle of violence in the Iraq as the hostages.
"That doesn't excuse in any way what they did to us, but it gives us some understanding," Kember said.

Sounds like a case of Stockholm syndrome to me - sometimes seen in abductees when they express loyalty to their kidnapper.

I wonder if their Septic colleague, Tom Fox, who was murdered by these âguardsâ would be quite so inclined to forgive.

Q: What is the difference between Stockholm syndrome and a Christian desire to forgive? Does it matter?

The Kember situation is different to the Walker one, she managed to make her forgiveness sound scathing and came across as a very proud and good person while ensuring her sons killers were dealt with properly. Kember however sounds like the kind of misguided idiot who would forgive you if you murdered his entire family. Theres only so much forgiving, turning other cheeks etc before enough is enough. Murderers, kidnappers etc will not be stopped or rethink their actions just because an old man forgives them, and if he is saying that his religion is not as barbaric as theirs then he is adding fuel to the fire.

In a strange way, I'm not sure that His example is all that relevant here. All I see is a very traumatised, Christian anti war protester caught up in a massively complex moral maze, partly of his own making, which he needs to sort out for himself.

The Kember situation is different to the Walker one, she managed to make her forgiveness sound scathing and came across as a very proud and good person while ensuring her sons killers were dealt with properly. Kember however sounds like the kind of misguided idiot who would forgive you if you murdered his entire family. Theres only so much forgiving, turning other cheeks etc before enough is enough. Murderers, kidnappers etc will not be stopped or rethink their actions just because an old man forgives them, and if he is saying that his religion is not as barbaric as theirs then he is adding fuel to the fire.

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Hmmmmm

Scathing forgiveness???

As to my bold in Your statement - since Kember mentioned Luther King and GHANDI in his interview on News at 1, I hardly think that he is doing that

Kember was one of the human shield brigade from this Canadian group of peaceniks, They were disappointed when the bombs came raining down on Baghdad and Kember not sure whther he would be a 'friendly-fire' statistic or a 'hostile-fire' dead fact became available for a bit of hostage-taking.

I don't view these people as 'Christian' any more than David Koresh in Waco - they are both cultists.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) arose from a call in 1984 for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war. Enlisting the whole church in an organized, nonviolent alternative to war, today CPT places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers. CPT embraces the vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power of Godâs truth and love.

Iraq â a Baghdad-based presence since October 2002. Team members accompanied the Iraqi people through the U.S.-led 2003 war and continue during the post-war occupation to expose abusive acts by U.S. Armed Forces and support Iraqis committed to nonviolent resistance.

Palestine â a continuing presence in the Hebron District (West Bank) since June 1995. Team members stand with Palestinians and Israeli peace groups engaged in nonviolent opposition to Israeli military occupation, collective punishment, settler harassment, home demolitions and land confiscation.

As you can see from the language used it is a pretty neutral, non-partisan group of politically-motivated activists